


Safety in Wingbeats

by LunagaleMaster



Series: Ecto-Shots [14]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Gen, Mentions of Dissection Nightmares, So continues my habit of writing complicated relationships between Danny and the ghosts, Wing Trauma, wing fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:22:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28701390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunagaleMaster/pseuds/LunagaleMaster
Summary: '“That isn’t reassuring,” he mutters. He means to be threatening, but it comes out more like a whine.Ember snickers. “Wasn’t meant to be. So, come on. What’s with the new accessories?” She plucks a stray feather from the tree. Danny can’t help but stare.It’s a stark white, maybe even brighter than his hair. The glow shrouds the edges of the feather, making it hard to look at directly. Danny can only imagine how he must look wrapped up in it. Something between an obnoxious beacon and snow in the middle of asphalt.He tries very hard not to see the matching white out of the corners of his eyes."While Danny tries and fails not to think about his newly acquired wings, he gets interrupted by one Ember McLain. The conversation goes surprisingly well.
Relationships: Ember McLain & Danny Fenton
Series: Ecto-Shots [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/410215
Comments: 10
Kudos: 99





	Safety in Wingbeats

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fearthefuzzybear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fearthefuzzybear/gifts).



> Made this for Slackmas and decided to post it to AO3. Been awhile since I've written for DP, but it was nice. Hope y'all enjoy~

/()\ Safety in Wingbeats /()\

It’s a quiet night. Amity Park doesn’t have many of those. Danny especially doesn’t. If there isn't someone screaming in terror from yet another ghost destroying yet another piece of property, it’s a government agent or various hunters trying to destroy him or something. Flying to and fro leaves Danny with little room for quiet. 

Against all odds, tonight it is. He’s checked. Multiple times. Over several hours. He should be glad for it, and a part of him surely is. If he was thinking straight, every part of him would be. People are safe! Everyone he cares about is safe. He’s fine. Everything is fine. 

The wind picks up, and Danny shivers at the sudden burst of cold hitting him. He feels it shudder through him. He’s in Phantom form, sitting lazily on top of a tree in Amity Park Park. Really, the cold shouldn’t bother him as much as it does. And it’s not really the cold that makes his face twist in discomfort. 

Because he feels the gush of wind flow through his feathers. They bend a little, not enough to be painful, but enough that he can feel them stretch the muscles in his wings. Danny learned about an hour ago to keep his wings close when he wasn’t flying with them. The wind, to put it lightly, is an asshole, and it does not hesitate to try and rip Danny away like he’s just some lost umbrella torn away from a poor sap’s hand. Except in this case, the umbrella is attached to his back. And in this case, if tried to be torn away, it hurts like hell. So, no, Danny will not fight the wind, and yes, he will cradle his wings as close as possible despite it making him look like some monster bird decided to take residence in the tree above a bench, thank you very much. 

Danny shifts in the tree, ignoring the prickling, and lets out a large sigh. He should go back home. It would be smart to get some rest before…

He feels the branches poke into his wings, and he holds them closer again. Not that it matters much. The wind picks up again, like an asshole, and it presses him further into the tree. The wind didn’t need to prick him to be a prick, but Danny muses that real jerks go the extra mile to make the saying literal. Still, he has enough enemies, including ghostly versions of father nature and an overcompensating hurricane. Would it kill him if-

He cuts that thought off before it starts because yes, yes it would. 

Danny rubs his face, scowling when it does nothing to stop how heavy his eyes feel. Fuck, he needs sleep. 

Shifting again, he tries not to get too comfortable and stares out into the streets. He’s sitting on one of the taller trees in the park, but even so, he can’t see too far. The buildings break his field of view. Only the street lamps in the distance let him see further than the otherwise well-lit park. The light streaks blur the world into concrete and washed out greens, mostly. There are many corners flushed with darkness, twisting their shapes into new forms. The two combine to create this parody of a world far more familiar to most people. 

Danny knows both worlds well. Just goes to show how much ghosts like to spook people in the night.

“Yo, Phantom, that you?” A voice shouts from above. At the same time, he feels a familiar cold breath force its way through his mouth. He scowls. 

Speaking of which. 

Danny twists around to look, and sure enough, Ember is flying above him, rocker boots, flaming blue hair, and all. “Holy shit, it is!” She laughs sharply. Ember floats down to his eye level, and Danny notes to his annoyance that she doesn’t even bother to pretend that she isn’t staring at his wings. 

Ember is odd to say the least. Of all the ghosts, he never knows how to deal with her. Box Ghost wants to be a threat but can’t, Skulker just wants to hunt him except when he doesn’t, big ghosts like Nocturne and Vortex never play around, but then you have ghosts like Johnny and Kitty who are almost his friends at this point. 

Then there’s Ember, one part teen drama queen, one part rockstar terror, and all dramatics. One day she could be chilling like Johnny and Kitty and the next, she could nearly terrorize the entire town with one note. 

She’s someone who keeps him on his toes to say the least. 

“Yeah, it’s me,” Danny says, eying her carefully, as she floats down,“The guy who can and will kick your butt into a thermos.” 

Embers snorts and settles next to him. “Only if I cause trouble.” 

“When aren’t you causing trouble?”

“More than you know, Phantom.” Her smile has a sharp quality to it. 

“That isn’t reassuring,” he mutters. He means to be threatening, but it comes out more like a whine. 

Ember snickers. “Wasn’t meant to be. So, come on. What’s with the new accessories?” She plucks a stray feather from the tree. Danny can’t help but stare. 

It’s a stark white, maybe even brighter than his hair. The glow shrouds the edges of the feather, making it hard to look at directly. Danny can only imagine how he must look wrapped up in it. Something between an obnoxious beacon and snow in the middle of asphalt. 

He tries very hard not to see the matching white out of the corners of his eyes. 

“So?” Ember presses on. “What’s the story?” 

Danny sighs, tearing his gaze away from the stupid feather and back to her face. She looks smug. “And what? Have every ghost know by the end of the night?” 

“You give us too much credit. End of the week.” 

“It’s Saturday.” 

“Exactly,” she says, flipping the feather between her fingers, It’s unfortunately far less delicate than it looks. “Besides, everyone’s going to know you’re a bird anyway. Might as well share with the whole class.” 

It isn’t bile that rises up, but it feels similar. Instead of an itching pain, a cold sliver rises up Danny’s throat and holds itself to the back of his mouth. He crosses his arms, but he does his damndest to keep his wings as still as possible. “Thanks, but no thanks. Go back to your- whatever you were doing. Make something up if you want. I don’t care.” 

He expects it to end there. Ember would laugh, maybe obnoxiously ruffle his head, and then fly out of there without a trace. Then, the next day he would probably regret it once she brought out her super secret plan she totally was working on the whole time. They would fight, he would win, and the cycle would continue as it always did. Simple. 

Instead, she snorts. “Uh, no, I don’t think so.” Ember gestures the end of the feather towards him. “Now, come on, I don’t have all night. I mean, I do, but I’m sure you don’t.” 

He stares blankly, not really knowing what to say. Part of him wants to vomit every anxious feeling he’s had the last 12 hours right here and now. It would be easy, and it’s not as if the ghosts could have less respect for him. But, Ember, well, she isn’t a confider. She isn’t Johnny or Kitty. Hell, even Box Ghost would be better to vent to. 

She looks on, brow raised. “Well?” 

“Why do you even care?” Danny manages to ask. 

“I mean, duh.” Ember gestures to the wings. “Those things. They don’t just pop out of nowhere. Something grand happen? A fight we don’t know about? Come on, if something is up with you, it’s bound to affect us.” 

Right. That sounds about right. The only difference between ghost politics and ghost gossip is how much danger their afterlives could be in when the news spreads. The famous Phantom, Defender of Amity Park gaining wings? Gotta know if some huge ghost he fought bestowed it upon him in a grand climatic battle. Makes sense. 

The cold in the back of his throat dies back and a more human feeling numbness settles on his mind. 

“Sorry to disappoint, but there isn’t much to it.” He feels them on his back. Every shiver, every twitch. They aren’t as heavy as they should be, not for their size. But it’s a definite weight, something new, and not something he can ignore. Danny laughs, just to untwist the alarmingly growing knot in his chest. “It’s not really even a story. I just woke up like this today. We’re trying to figure out if it’s something else, but…” He shrugs. 

It’s almost funny how annoyed Ember looks. She’s given up playing with the feather and stares at him. “You’re messing with me.” 

He shrugs again. “Wish I was.Trust me, I’d like something else too. If only so I know what to hit for doing this.” 

“Bullshit.” 

“No, I’m very good at hitting things. You should know. Better yet, ask the Box Ghost, he has the most experience in that.” 

Ember’s still staring at him, like that will help get a different answer out. If it does, he really hopes it’s one that will make this all better. But his mouth has run dry, and the glare in her gaze is more exhausting than intimidating. 

After a moment, she asks again. “You’re not messing with me are you?”

“In what part?” 

Ember’s hair flares. “The wings, dumbass.” 

“Then no, I’m not.” He feels a small smile twitch on his face. For the half-life of him, he doesn’t know why. That laugh builds again, but he manages to swallow it down. 

“Huh.” Ember settles further into the tree. “Huh,” she says again. 

“Yup.” 

“Kinda stupid, if you ask me.” 

She looks at the feather then back at him then back to the stupid thing in her hands.He feels like he should say something, a joke along the lines of “at least something in my life is boring” and laugh. Some part of him wants to laugh again, but he can’t. Because she’s right, isn’t she? How stupid this all played out. 

And then wind picks up again, stronger than before. Ember’s hair flickers towards him, the feather fluttering uselessly in her hands. He feels the wind push, and he realizes he’s shifted since Ember first arrived. He’s facing toward the wayward wind and it hurts, it _hurts._ He brings his wings close again, and he feels them move, the muscles pull, and he knows he can deal with this. Danny just has to go intangible, twist around, do something, but he can’t do both, not now. It’s taking everything he can just to not float away. He hasn't felt this out of control in years, and it’s not his fault. Why now, why take this control away from him? He hates this, he _hates_ -

Something small flies toward him and he doesn’t think. Danny blinks and as natural as breathing, he goes intangible. At the same moment, the pulling against his wings stops.

He breathes slowly, faintly remembering the exercises Jazz told him to do at times like this. Danny technically doesn’t need to breathe, but tell that to the shaking of his core. So he breathes, and It helps, seemingly useless as it is. 

When he manages to calm himself, he finds Ember looking back at him passively. He notes, dumbly, that the feather in her hand is gone. He also notes that the wind has died down again. 

“Uh, thanks,” he says. “I’ll just, yeah.” He turns tangible, carefully keeping his wings in tight. He ignores the imploring look Ember gives him. It isn’t as demanding as Jazz’s or his friends’, or hell, even Johnny’s or Kitty’s. But there's a question there that he is not in the mood for. Anything left of him feels drained, no laugh, no numbness. Just an exhaustion from too much of life all at once. He can’t even look at Ember again. He just mutters. “Anything else you want? Because I’m just about done with this entire night.” 

She doesn’t answer at first. The only sounds are the light wind, the flickers of her hair, and the buzzing of the lights. They echo in his head and fill the space where words should be. For a moment. Then she huffs. “Really?” she asks incredulously, “You really don’t want to talk about all that?”

He manages to give an impression of a shrug. “Not really. More sucky powers that don’t do what I want. Nothing new there.”

“Really?” 

“Uh, yeah.”

“Wow, just wow,” She says incredulously. Ember leans back further into the tree. “You know, that sucks.” 

He laughs, despite himself. “Kinda, yeah.”

Her face twists, something between annoyed and contemplative. Danny waits for her to say her peace, but Ember keeps just looking at him. His wings shiver, but he doesn’t get to win this stare off. If that’s what it is anyway. 

“I’m not your keeper,” she says after a moment, “You’ve got like, three of those.” 

Danny bristles. “They’re my friends not my keepers.”

She waves him off. “Not the point. I just don’t get why you’re sitting here all miserable-like in a tree for no good reason.” 

His chest tightens. Ember must notice the way his wings flutter without Danny’s permission; she has to see the way his face falls. He takes a breath and very carefully doesn’t think of home.

Danny’s not a very careful person. 

He swallows, mouth feeling dry. “Maybe I have one.”

“Masochism? 

“Uh no. And yes, I know what that means. I looked it up.” 

“ _You looked it up_.” Her laugh bursts across the park. It itches like a nat on his skin, and he scowls. When Ember’s done, she lets out a satisfied sigh, her only indication that she sees his annoyance is a twitching smile. “Okay, okay. I see now. You have no good reasons.”

_He does._ “...Not really.” 

“Good! Then why don’t you go home?”

_He’s scared._ “I… can’t.” 

She raises a curious eyebrow. “Ghost shield up?”

_That would make it simple._ Maybe he could tell Jazz to-

Danny shakes his head, pushing away the thought. It wouldn’t make much of a difference. “No, not that.”

“Aaaaah,” Ember hesitates this time, looking at him carefully. When she asks, it’s in a conspiratorial whisper, soft, but playful in a sense, “Parents figure you out then?”

That’s-

He doesn’t know what he’s feeling. If numb was an emotion, he’s pretty sure it’s that. Danny finds himself speaking, despite that, “Not yet. But…” 

His wings feel heavy on his back. 

“But..? Come on, Phantom. Already got this far. Tell me.” 

He’s aware of every motion they make, the unnatural feel of the leaves against them. 

Ember huffs. “Earth to ghost-boy, talk to me.” 

_Danny's so tired..._

“Just,” he says quietly, barely above the wind and already a bit more than he can give. “Just, let me show you.” 

With that, it’s easy. With barely any effort, familiar bright rings lazily glide from his chest, shifting his forms from Phantom to Fenton. Instantly, the cold of the night hits him, and he holds himself closer to get away from the light wind. 

His wings automatically curl around him, black feathers at the edges of his vision. 

“Well shit.” Ember remarks. 

Danny huffs. “Yeah, that about covers it.”

“And you’re not doing that for show? That’s stuck?”

Danny hugs himself closer. “No, I mean, yeah. They’re here in both forms. I, can, uh, can make them invisible, but not for long in human form. Definitely not long enough for an entire school day or even going out for too long.” 

Today has been so long. Far too long. Danny remembers it clearly. Waking up with wings, calling Sam and Tucker in a panic, asking Jazz to cover him so he could figure out what was going on as fast as they could. The entire day, the three of them tested and practiced in both forms, everything they could to find out what the hell happened overnight. 

They figured it was a halfa thing, what with the wings in both forms, but even now Danny’s not entirely sure. For every power, they always manifested for Phantom first. The control was difficult for Fenton, yes, but he always knew where one started and the other ended. Mainly, he knows how his powers feel, like buzzing at the end of his fingertips ready to trip at the slightest slip of control. 

But this? While there were some differences between forms, there aren’t as many as they should be. In fact, to Danny’s personal panic, his wings just felt like an extension to his body. He even feels his transformation rings glide over them. 

It’s been less than 24 hours since something decided to fuck over his life again, and he’s still reeling about the implications of it all. 

Ember’s staring again. He doesn’t blame her. They might not be her wings, but Danny stared a long time too. It’s one thing for a ghost to suddenly have a pair of wing, but it’s another for a human. One is weird but manageable, the other is impossible. 

After a long silence, Ember clears her throat. Danny can’t see her, but he hears her shifting in the tree. “So, what are you going to do?’

Danny shrugs and stares at the edges of the branches, watching the leaves flutter in the wind. “I don’t know. Sam and Tucker are going to try to figure something out but…”

“You’re not following their plan.”

“No.”

“So?” Ember implores.

Danny swallows.“...I’m telling my parents tomorrow.”

She pauses, considering this. Maybe it was dumb to tell one of his supposed enemies something so vulnerable. He'll probably care more tomorrow when he feels less drained.

When Ember speaks again, her voice is surprisingly short. “Your parents. The ghost hunters.” 

“Don't have any other parents, do I?"

“Right." She says curtly, then she sighs and adds. "At least it’s just wings.”

“...All of it. I’m telling them everything.” 

Danny could have just let her believe that it was just the wings, but he’s gone this far, might as well show his hand and face her flames. He lifts the wing closest to her to see her expression. Danny finds she’s glaring at him, hair flaring at the end. Her scowl deepens when their eyes meet. 

“To clarify,” Ember says, obvious anger boiling underneath her words. “You’re telling your ghost hunter parents about the fact you’re a ghost.” 

Again, Danny only shrugs. “Yup.”

“You’re being weirdly calm about this,” Ember accuses. 

“Well, sometimes, you fight the inevitable and other times…” 

Other times, you just sit in a tree and try not to deal with the fact that your entire life is changing tomorrow. 

He thought about it. Too many times what telling them would be like. Danny’s imagined so many scenarios at this point, from happy smiles to disappointment. The darker cases, the ones where they don’t accept him, don’t see him as human- his parents are better people than his nightmares, he’s sure they are. He’s also certain that all of this mess would have been easier if he told them at the beginning, but it’s been years now, and the moment never felt so far. 

Until today. When talking with Jazz, he slowly but surely felt his choice being torn away from him until he found himself flying across Amity Park’s skyline for a chance to think and be okay with all this. 

The wings didn’t help the process. 

Ember well...

Said ghost once again interrupts his pity party. “So,” Ember taps gestures with a stick she must have pulled off at one point. “is this just you saying goodbye as your last night, or..?”

Danny blinks. “Last night?” 

Ember shoots him a standard ‘you’re being an idiot’ look, typical of everyone who’s ever met him. “I’m just asking if I should expect a new door to pop in the zone tomorrow after parents go all mad scientist on you.” 

“I don’t think they’re going to hurt me,” Danny says curtly.

“Ahuh.” 

“They won’t. At least, I’m pretty sure,” he assures. Then grimances at his wording, “I’m sure enough to risk it.” He clarifies. 

She huffs. “Risk, what, being a lab experiment?”

“I won’t-! They won’t do that! I don’t think they’ll do that.”

“This isn’t something you can just ‘think’ on, Phantom. You have to know.” 

Danny laughs under his breath. Like he knows anything in his life, let alone this. Besides, “Why do you care?”

“Hmm, I don’t know, maybe I don’t want to see you become less than a lab rat? Think about that?” She legitimately sounds angerier now. Words clipped, and her hair starting to flare dangerously close to the leaves. He can’t help but roll his eyes, his gaze straying towards the park. 

“It sure would make your life easier, wouldn’t it?” 

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.” 

“No, you’re not. Now-” 

A sharp pain hits Danny’s arm, and he yells out. “Hey what-”

He’s met with a stick on his nose, and a full forced glare from Ember. One of the leaves left on the branch, flutters in the wind. 

“Now that I have your full attention,” she says, surprisingly calm, “you need to know two things.”

“Sure.” The stick isn’t really an issue; it’s just that, a stick. But he knows how these things go, and Danny’s really not in the mood doesn’t want to deal with the implied threat behind it, especially since he’s still in his human form right now. 

Ember taps his nose. Danny resists the urge to tap it back and keeps his eyes on the other ghost. “One,” Ember begins, “you’re being an idiot.” 

“You already said that.” 

“No, I didn’t.”

“You said it with your eyes.”

“I’ll give you that,” she concedes, voice still as soft. Danny notes it’s more of that condescending calm, like the ones you use on toddlers. 

“And number two-” Ember pulls the stick away, but holds it steady like she’s ready to use it at any moment- “I’m sure every single one of your human friends would think so too.”

Danny eyes her weapon warily, as he disagrees, “...Jazz thinks it might be okay.” 

“Might?” She raises the stick slightly. 

“She says that if I do it,” Danny corrects himself. “She’ll make sure I’m safe.” 

Ember pauses, keeping the stick still. Danny holds his breath. “I’ll hold her to that.” To his bafflement and relief, Ember lights the stick on fire. It’s turned from ash to dust in the wind in a matter of seconds. 

He stares, a bit dumbfounded. “Okay, seriously, why?” 

She laughs. “Just a bit of dramatics, Phantom. You know-”

“Yeah, yeah, I got that, But, again, why do you care?”

“Because, unlike what you think, I’m not a heartless and cruel being?”

Memories of her mocking laughter rings across his mind. Ember’s hurt him, so many times. She’s his friends, his family, and Danny himself, used them like puppets for her bidding. At the same time, there’s good memories too. Times where she’s helped him out of tough spots; tougher enemies, escaping Skulker’s traps, and now, even, listening to him whine in the darkness. Every single relationship he has with the ghosts are complicated at best, but Ember is the only one he consistently has no idea how to deal with. 

They can never be friends, but he doesn’t mind what they are tonight, whatever this can ever be. 

Danny sighs, and he can’t really meet her eyes.“It would be easier for you if I was gone, wouldn’t it?” 

It shouldn’t be as disappointing as it is when she shrugs. “Probably? But, I don’t hate you; oh don’t get me wrong, I don’t like you either,” she adds, at Danny’s scoff, “You’re self-righteous and you care too much about people who don’t care about you. It’s a bit sickening.”

“Says the rockstar who hypnotizes her fans to do her bidding.”

Another shrug. “Yeah, and? You don’t see me picking up falling buildings when they would just as well shoot me in the back. They’re human, and in that case, they’re useful, but I don’t go out of my way to hurt them. That’s just rude.” 

“Rude. Right.” Danny notes to call something Ember does ‘rude’ the next time they fight. 

“Yeah, it’s rude,” She continues. If she hadn’t burnt the stick, Ember probably would have gestured with it. As it is, she flicks her hand pointedly, “And, say what you want about us ghosts, and you can say a lot, and you have. So much. But as much as we destroy things and as much as we scare people, we never go out of our way to do much more than that. At least most of us. Humans on the other hand, they’ve never treated us with any kindness. At best they want us gone. 

At worst, well, you know better than I do, don’t you, Phantom?”

Danny shivers. He knows. He’s had more than one nightmare about scalpels and dissection tables. Vaguely, he wonders how they would strap down his wings to the table, but he banishes the thought before he can think too much on it. He doesn’t need to give his nightmares more fuel to work with. 

“So, that’s it?” He asks, incredulously, “A ghost solidarity thing?”. It seems a bit simple for his tastes, but again, Ember shrugs. 

“Pretty much, yeah.” 

“Wow.” 

“Don’t ‘wow’ me,” Ember says with a scowl. “Listen, a lot of ghosts don’t like you, for good reason, but I don’t think anyone would want to find out that you got cut up by your own parents because you decided you were tired of keeping secrets.” 

“Oh,” There really isn’t much you can say to that oddly comforting bare minimum. t’s like some line he never really knew was there had been lifted, and it didn’t mean much, not really, but it’s more than nothing. Danny crosses his arms, and very carefully doesn’t look at Ember. “Thank you, I guess.” 

“Don’t mention it. Seriously.” And Danny suspects she too is looking away. 

There’s so much more Danny could say right now. There have been so many thoughts in his head since this whole wing fiasco barreled into his life. He wants to tell her that when he was little he wanted to fly to the moon and never come back. That he thought his freckles were just baby stars that never got a chance to go to the sky. That once upon a time, this was a dream come true, but now with the reality of it hurts like the wind against his wings. One day, he may love this. One day, he may feel free to glide against the sky without fear. But he lost that freedom a long time ago, and he can’t help but hate that this choice was taken from him. 

He does not say anything of this. Instead, the words die with a sigh on his lips and the barrier between them stands firmly, if a bit shaken. 

“Right, so. Uh, thanks for the talk.” He stands awkwardly on the branches, careful not to fall through. As his transformation rings rise and fall again, he takes a cautious look at the other ghost. Ember isn’t looking at him. 

“Are you going to…?’

“I’m fine here,” Ember says curtly. 

“Okay then.” It feels odd ending it like this, but in a way it feels right. Maybe he can leave this night in this tree and never think about it again. That would be nice. He takes an unneeded breath, core humming, and lets out a cool breeze. 

Right, flying. Time to fly home. 

He knows how to do this. He’s done it a thousand times. Well, he’s flown as Phantom a thousand times, not Phantom plus wings. But he’s practiced and he knows he can do it. So, he should just jump and get away from this all and just. Go. 

Right now. 

Danny extends his wings, feeling the stretch of them. A small part of him feels satisfied with the weight and movement in the potential flight. Most of him notes that if he falls and can’t fly, he’s either splatting on the ground, or diving into the Earth’s core in complete darkness like one of many of his worst nightmares could conjure up. 

But it’s fine, he’s fine, he just needs to-

“Hey.”

Danny swerves around, only to find Ember glaring at him. There’s another stick in her hand. He scowls at it. 

“What- _Ember, what?_ ”

She rolls her eyes. “Stop thinking. You’re hurting my brain from over here.” 

“ _You-_ ” 

Before a fight breaks out, Danny freezes. He feels it before he hears it. The wind ruffles against his feathers, and then the whistle. He feels the current push against him, and his core kicks into high gear. Not letting himself think, he turns around and lets the air guide him. It flows between his feathers, and pushes him to let go, let him ride the wind as natural as breathing. And so, he does.

Danny jumps from the tree. For one terrible moment, it’s just air, nothing else. 

Then, he feels the pull, the natural muscle goes up, down. The strain is lessened by the guiding wind. In only seconds, he finds himself in the sky, as naturally as ever. The park is just a green dot in Amity Park’s night. 

Laughing to himself, Danny looks down and takes it all in. Then he blinks. 

Ember is gone. 

Oh, that’s-

“A bit fancy,” Ember’s voice quips beside him, “but I like it.” 

Startled, Danny twists around, only to find Ember gliding casually next to him. 

Right. Needing wings to fly was only his thing now. Duh. 

Danny shakes his head and starts to head the direction of Fentonworks. The wind’s died down again, but it still takes effort to turn. He notes to his annoyance, that Ember just stops midair while he slowly glides in the opposite direction. “Nice to see your approval,” he grits out. 

He practically hears the smirk in her voice. “Someone between the two of us has to have style.”

“I’m plenty stylish!”

“Suuuuure.”

It’s a slow process, but Danny manages to turn the right direction. In the distance, he sees Fentonworks, the bright obnoxious sign taking over everything else. Carefully, Danny maneuvers himself in what he could describe as a hover. His wings flap behind him, enough to keep him airborne, but he uses what’s left of his previous flying ability to stay in place. Even so Danny bobs in the sky and feels vaguely seasick, not entirely sure if that’s from the movement or the growing knot in his chest. 

Danny sees the weird look she gives him and turns away. “So,” Ember says. Danny waits for her to elaborate, but the silence stretches beyond any thought. 

“I, uh,” Danny begins, but stops. Ember looks at him, but any words he wants to say die before he could properly think them. Something along the lines of thank you, but he’s not entirely sure of what anymore. 

There’s a silence, as they pointedly look anywhere but each other. And Fentonworks on Danny’s end. 

“Hey, Phantom,” Ember finally says. She’s quiet, and surprisingly sincere, “If something does happen, find Johnny or Kitty. Hell, find me. We’ll make sure you’ll be fine, alright?” 

_Oh_. His chest tightens. “Ember-” Danny begins, but the moment he turns to look at her, she disappears from the night. He twists around, trying to find her, but no. As suddenly as she appeared, Ember’s gone. 

Danny is all alone once more. 

Sort of alone at least. 

Danny knows he should go home. He should get as much rest as he can before the night dies to morning. Yet, he finds himself taking the moment in, feeling surprisingly fragile. He breathes, feeling the weight of it in his chest before letting it out with a heavy burst. It leaves him empty, but not in a way that’s entirely unwelcome. 

For a second, he takes in his city. The lights, the ever present buzz, and the constant wind he’s never been more aware of. For how familiar it is, the quiet night has never been more different. It should want the easy familiarity back. It would make things simpler.

But as he feels the satisfying weight of each wingbeat, Danny quickly realizes he’s not sure what he wants anymore. As stressed as he is about tomorrow, a quiet part of him only feels relief that maybe, different is good. 

As Danny turns to fly home, he hopes it is at least. Maybe for once, different can mean safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Tell me what you liked, tell me what you disliked, or just tell me some weird fact you learned about recently, that would be fun. Even if you don't comment, hope y'all have a nice day and I'll see you next time!
> 
> ~Lunagalemaster


End file.
